The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1887-06-30
sesT. PETER'sC CHURCH,

IL A.sssess Trs,slsr's First l.pr...i..;:
Hon. D: N: Richardson; editor Thu
Denverpoft; Iowa. Democrat writes
from Rome:
Are you coming to Romsf II you
come to sec it all, to compass its pal:
aces-spiritual and civil; to Under;
stand its antiquities, to know the
length and breath Of Rome id time
and figures; come early, come to stay:
Come we'll braced for disappointment
for when you have spent your dear;
short life of twenty. thirty. forty
years, you viii know sd little; lack sd
much that you will shirk to look your
heiehbor id the face:
Ienvy, quite, the man who has been
in Rome three days and tells you he
has seen 1T all! like him for his OBJ
durate. blissful ignorance; that state
of hopeless mental vacancy that out
bids responsibility. and wish he would
write book on Rome, for he could
only make failure, as all have doua
before.
You come to Rome. First thing q
hotel. You take a bit to eat, order a
vehicle: You are going out to do the
city-to take it in. Where will
you drive? Nine times out OF
tsn the pilgrim says est. Peters
"A San Peatro" speaks of your por-
ter to the whip, and of you 60. OF
through close marrow streets, we'll
hemmed in with tall, tawDy, succeed
houses-the houses are stores and
shops and dwellings, all combined in
one-you Cross the Bridge Of Angels
in trance, you pass the castle An.
cello in daze, you squeeze in through
the Borgo in an anxious state, and
facing great Saint Peters you are
crushed. You hunt your stock OF
words. They are misfits. Youtry to
tell your thoughts. They are too in.
significant; you alight. stare at the
collonades, the great ambitious fount.
aims; tho hieroglyphic obelisk; then
turn and 60 inside. Hyou are wise you'll
say no foolish thing, for you'll keep
your mouth shut. You cannot under
stand a thing you see; the dist ances are
great and overcome you; the heights
are lofty-room in any corner to tuck
away your village church and never
miss the space it takes; the floor q
wide spread of colored marbles; the
piers and columns, inches, statues,
cherubs-everything SO out of all pro-
portions that you have ever seen,
that you cannot take it in or scarcely
find your tongue.
You will join the crowd, maybe, and
you will 60 to the great bronze canopy
and look upon the many lighted lamps;
gaze up above the clouds and find the
heavens very high and overweight
with rows OF saints-tier on tier, with
Christ and Mary where the sun should
be. You hear church music some
where round-intoned service some
where here-but not a congregation in
sisht-the great floor space is free of
GRO wds, though some hundreds ofpeo-
pie wander about just as you do; you
wonder where the singing is, and 20 to
find it-go to hunt among the piers,
about the aisles and chapels-find it
at last way off one side-mere chapel
enthusiastically any people there.
But look you-look about-that
little chapel you see here Is larger than
any church, perhaps, you have ever
worshipped in; it's dome mounts up
two hundred feet or more; its floor is
costly marble work; it's alter golden
bronze and p;ecious stones; it's pic
lures masters works. Small! Yes;
but put all the people into it that you
find in your average church at home,
and they will yet leave room for quite
az many more. Nothing is small here.
Stay hero weeks and come here for an
hour each day. and it will grow-take
form and shape, and you will get &C.
customed. 1t hardly seems the work
OF man; more like vast majestic cave
arranged by supernatural hands
cathedral OF the gods. The work of
man could be described so man can
understanding passes all dsscrip-
tion-passeth understanding. You
may pace it off-so around it's outer
wall, and those Of its annexes, and ad-
Joined rooms OF the Vatican. and the
walk is longer than that which COM
passes the walls of the city of Jerusa.
lem! You trudge up to the top and
walk about the streets of houses there
the great paved roof looks like vii.
lage-street and public square-homes
for the workingmen, q liberal force to
keep things in repair. The lofty chap
Ell domes that spring up through the
root are so many small temples
kiosks. The grand old central dome
that mounts up there beyond this IT,
dy village, is the August cathedral
round, as was cathedral shape in later
pagan-early Christian times. You
wander here at leisure. look up along
the eighteen feet back of the Saviour
and the saints that from your roof
village wall look down into the sixty
acre open square that fronts the great
Saint Peters; stray round the
sturdy parapets, climb on far
Their up and up towards the sun.
From down below you saw a little
ball-an ornament on the spire-just
below the top. It's bigger than your
head, and coming nearer, it grows
bigger and bigger yet; and when you
get up to it. it's big enough to let you
in-you and your wife and children
uncles, aunts. and visitors. If all are
good sized, sixteen can get in and
moro OF big and little.
From the lantern railing just below
you may sit and see the world! Men,
below, are mites, and palaces are
children's playhouse toys? From
here you look straight down into the
Tiber-down into streets and public
squares Of Rome as you look upon
map-as you look from a balloon.
You may count from here
the other Roman churches-one
hund ed, two, three-tbree hundred
and sixty-fve-all in full blast-the,r
doors stand open every day. Full!
many OF these are costly miracles of
marble, fresco, bronze and painted
scene; mosaics rare and precious
stones, and gid and CLINT of jewelry.
In olden times, those times Of pagan
dom, the temples were the banks in
which men of means could keep their
bank account-the priests the safe
cashiers, who had not heard of Mont
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